Shell Aims to Harness the Power of the Lower Mississippi
ORPC, an marine renewable energy developer whose power systems harness the energy of free-flowing rivers and tides, has signed a contract with Shell Technology – Marine Renewable Program to initiate a Modular RivGen Power System demonstration project in the Lower Mississippi River.The collaborative project represents an opportunity to showcase how the next generation of ORPC’s hydrokinetic technology can provide predictable baseload electricity to help decarbonize onshore assets. Once deployed, the system can potentially support the electrification of Shell facilities, including providing
Massive Bloom of Brown Seaweed Heads Toward Florida and the Caribbean
grows faster in warmer water, I believe it’s more plausible that the cause is a drastic increase in agricultural activity in the Brazilian Amazon.Scientists have shown that huge brown tides that were observed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 and 2011 were linked to nutrients carried down the Mississippi River. Now, intensive cattle ranching and soybean farming in the Amazon basin are sending rising levels of nitrogen and phosphorus into the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon and Orinoco rivers. These nutrients are key ingredients in fertilizer, and also are present in animal manure.Another major source
Ballast Water Management is Reducing the Flow of Invasive Species into the Great Lakes
illegally to a Québec fish farm in the mid-1980s and now expanding its population in the St. Lawrence River.Meanwhile, four non-native species of carp (bighead carp, silver carp, grass carp and black carp) raised in fish farms in the southern United States have been spreading throughout the Mississippi River basin over the past several decades and pose an ongoing risk of invading the Great Lakes. Grass carp has been found reproducing in Lake Erie tributaries and is poised to invade parts of the basin.Finding new strategies to manage these risks is vital to conserving biodiversity and protecting
Corps Building Underwater Sill to Halt Saltwater Intrusion in Mississippi River
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District began construction of an underwater sill October 11, 2022, across the bed of the Mississippi River channel to prevent further upriver progression of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico.The Mississippi River’s volume of water has fallen to a level that allows salt water to intrude upstream. Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico moves upriver in a wedge shape that may stretch up approximately 20 miles from the bottom to the surface of the river.To stop the salt water from moving upriver and reduce the risk to freshwater intakes, the New Orleans
Silver Ships Delivers Survey Vessel to US Army Corps of Engineers
of Engineers Venice Sub Office in Venice, La. The 49-foot Tobin is the latest expansion in Silver Ships’ Endeavor series of workboats and is the largest marine surveying vessel of its series.Custom designed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to hydrographically map the mouth of the Mississippi River, the mission-specific vessel will allow researchers to accurately and effectively obtain and document data on the rapidly changing waters in the Mississippi River. With the intent of keeping waterways open and preventing obstructions to marine navigation, Tobin is equipped to handle challenging
Below-average Gulf of Mexico ‘Dead Zone’ Measured
miles in 2017.The measurement was made during an annual survey cruise, led by a team of scientists from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) aboard the R/V Pelican during the last week of July. The information gathered is a key metric used by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Hypoxia Task Force to measure progress toward achieving their five-year average target of 1,900 square miles or smaller by 2035. The cruise provides a one-time snapshot of the dead zone; the five-year average captures the dynamic and changing nature of the zone over
NOAA Forecasts Average Summer 'Dead Zone' in the Gulf of Mexico
the five-year average measured size of 5,380 square miles.The dead zone, or hypoxic area, is an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life. It occurs every summer and is primarily a result of excess nutrient pollution from human activities in cities and farm areas throughout the Mississippi River watershed.When the excess nutrients reach the Gulf, they stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which eventually die and decompose, depleting oxygen as they sink to the bottom. The resulting low oxygen levels near the bottom of the Gulf cannot support most marine life. Fish, shrimp and crabs often
Two Century Old Shipwrecked Whaling Ship Discovered in GOM
, Massachusetts, and hunted whales across the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico for 20 years. It was lost when a strong storm snapped its masts and opened its hull to the sea on May 26, 1836. Industry was whaling primarily for sperm whales more than 70 miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River. It is the only whaling ship known to have been lost in the Gulf of Mexico out of 214 whaling voyages from the 1780s to the 1870s.While Industry eventually sank, there was some mystery about what happened to the crew. Thanks to new research by Robin Winters, a librarian at the Westport Free
USGS, ERDC Install Underwater Asian Carp Deterrent System
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and partners installed a temporary, experimental underwater acoustic deterrent system (UADS) at Mississippi River Lock 19 between Keokuk, Iowa, and Hamilton, Illinois, Feb. 3. The deployment is part of a study to understand how invasive Asian carp respond to acoustic, or sound, signals.“If this UADS is successful in deterring Asian carp, it could have huge implications for invasive species management,” said Dr. Marybeth Brey, a USGS research fish biologist and the project lead. “This new
February 2024
